This invention relates to a apparatus for taking out the leading edge of an exposed film from its cartridge.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a tongue withdrawal apparatus which mechanically carries out a so-called tongue withdrawal operation of exposed film incorporated in a cartridge. According to the present invention, this object is achieved by providing an apparatus comprising a thin resilient film withdrawal strip having hooks formed in the forward portion thereof and adapted to engage the film perforations, a thin resilient guide member having an inwardly curved tip, a support plate positioned below said strip to support it and said guide member, means for moving said guide member towards and away from the cartridge to sufficiently insert said guide member into the cartridge through its film withdrawal port and to retract said guide member from the cartridge, means for turning the cartridge spool several times so that the curved tip of said guide member always contacts the outermost portion of the wound film from the outside after said guide member has been inserted in said cartridge, means for moving said film withdrawal strip toward and away from the cartridge to introduce said film withdrawal strip into the cartridge through its film withdrawal port from between the support plate and said guide member which has been inserted in the cartridge and to withdraw said film withdrawal strip so as to withdraw the film from the cartridge by means of engagement between the hooks of said film withdrawal strip and the perforations of the film, and, in a case where the film has not been withdrawn, said means for turning the spool being operated to turn the spool again so as to change the position of the film end, and said means for moving said film withdrawal strip being operated to repeatedly introduce said film withdrawal strip into the cartridge and to withdraw the film from the cartridge.
In a preferred embodiment, the thin resilient film withdrawal strip is of material such as stainless steel or plastics, the hooks formed in the forward portion of said thin strip are surrounded by punched holes terminating adjacent the base thereof, are positioned in the same plane as that of said thin strip when said film withdrawal strip is in a retructed flat state, and are allowed to obliquely project from said thin strip when said strip is inserted into the cartridge to curve. Preferably, there is provided a cartridge holder having a pocket for receiving the cartridge, and the support plate has an extremely thin resilient guiding strip attached thereto so as to extend into the pocket of the cartridge holder beyond the forward edge thereof. The guiding strip enables said support plate to move together with a cartridge, from a position at which the forward portion of the guiding strip is inserted into the cartridge, to a position at which the cartridge is accommodated in the pocket of a cartridge holder. The support plate is preferably pivoted to a frame at the rear end thereof. As can be understood, when the cartridge is retained inside the pocket of the cartridge holder, the forward portion of the guiding strip positioned below the guide member and the film withdrawal strip is inserted into the cartridge. For this reason, the guide member and the withdrawal strip sequentially caused to advance are guided by the upper surface of the guiding strip and smoothly introduced into the cartridge without becoming snagged at the entrance of the cartridge irrespective of variations in its shape and size.